Bear-bait

He describes another entertainment as often following the bear-bait, that of mercilessly whipping a blinded bear by five or six men standing circularly with whips; the bear unable to escape because of his chain, defended himself with all his force, throwing down all that came within his reach, tearing the whips out of their hands, and breaking them.

A bear-bait was one of the recreations offered to Elizabeth at Kenilworth, and in the Earl of Northumberland's Household Book we read of 20s. for his bear-ward.

This freedom of speech in a holy place is less to be wondered at when it is known that the good rector and a party from the rectory usually witnessed the bear-bait from the churchyard adjoining the village green.

He also had flu, complained that the mysterious marking of his manuscripts had begun again and concluded: 'My senses tell me that the same hand which made Birmingham impossible and bear-baited me wherever I went, is responsible for my present situation.'

Welles later provided a lively but quite fanciful account of how he bear-baited Hemingway:

Interest Rate Observer, and a debunker of U.S. stocks since the Dow was at 2,000, has appeared on Rukeyser's TV show, where he gets bear-baited: "World's going to hell again, eh, Jim?"